The Lost Room drabbles
by the lively art
Summary: A collection of drabbles about The Lost Room.
1. breeze

The wind ruffles his hair gently as he stares into the sun. No need to worry about damage to his retinas anymore, or was it his corneas? He absently wishes he'd paid more attention in biology class.

He has plenty of room for introspection and outrospection and thinking in general. Not much else to occupy his time between attempts to "acquire" him by various cabals. He only knew of two at first, but now there are more, and he wonders if this is better, or worse.

He supposes it doesn't matter much, and closes his eyes to enjoy the breeze.

-

notes:

I know outrospection isn't actually a word. D:


	2. here

It was here that Anna was born.

The hospital was an older one, around since the nineteenth century or somesuch, and Joe thought it would last forever. But sometime during his daughter's fifty-third year, it was torn down and a cemetery was built in its place.

He finds it oddly fitting and rather ironic that she was buried here, as well, on almost the exact same spot the room she'd been birthed in had once sat.

Here is a good place, he decides, and lies down. The fingers of one hand resting gently on her marker, he closes his eyes.


	3. punishment

The years pass and his daughter grows older. He left when she was still a child, long after she'd forgotten about her adventures in the magic room. He couldn't let her remember why he didn't age, didn't get hurt or sick. He couldn't let her be drawn back into that dangerous world.

But it's hard. She lived her life without him, and it was painful. And now she's dying without him, and it hurts even more.

He watches the line go flat from his vantage point in a building across the street and wonders if he's being punished for something.


	4. jealous

It's a gorgeous motorcycle, and Joe is jealous.

But the owner is nearly sixty now, and has no living relatives. Joe can stand to wait.

A few days after the man dies of old age, Joe breaks into his garage and takes it, leaving more than enough cash in its place. He feels vaguely guilty, but the years have dulled his morals a bit, and besides, it was going to be sold and the proceeds donated to charity, anyway.

He is content to ride forever, until he spots a cherry-red Thunderbird.

The owner is seventy, no relatives. Joe can wait.

-

notes:

meant to be taken with a grain of salt. Also, apparently Joe likes going fast :D


	5. sweater

Twenty years on the run, now. He doesn't know how it happened, but somehow word got out that he was the Occupant. He left Anna with Vanessa and never looked back, taking with him only the clothes he was wearing.

It's patchy and threadbare and an ugly shade of green, but she gave it to him for Christmas all those years ago, and he refuses to part with it.

He huddles in on himself, curled up at the base of a tree in the cold of a winter night in Arkansas, hugging the sweater and wishing it were his daughter.


	6. divine

He is peering thoughtfully at the fingerprint scanner when the man bursts in, waving a gun.

Of all the days to feel like inspecting updated banking technology.

The man is clearly desperate, and quite willing to kill. He barks instructions at the teller and when one of the spread-eagled customers, shaking with fear, accidentally knocks over a lamp, Joe takes a moment to weigh the dangers of being discovered with the guilt of allowing an innocent to die.

The bullet catches him in the shoulder, bouncing off to lodge itself in a pillar. The would-be robber is confused, and empties his clip at Joe, nearly getting hit by a ricochet or two. The man looks at him with eyes like saucers and drops to his knees, gun clattering to the floor.

"Forgive me, Lord!" he cries, hands clasped together in apology as tears stream down his cheeks. The customers are raising their heads now, looking on in shock and awe.

"For Christ's sake." Joe shakes his head and strides forward, catching the man by the collar and dragging him outside to the waiting police. As the officers stare at him dumbly, he slips away.

Wonderful. One more city to avoid.

-

notes:

doubledrabble.

Joe must get bored with nothing to do besides avoiding cabals. I find those new fingerprint scanners on some laptops interesting; if banks ever got them, which they will eventually, I'm sure Joe would find them interesting, too.


	7. festival

It's a street festival, and Joe is curious.

The air smells like funnel cakes and cotton candy and a million other things, and a small boy is running around with half an ice cream cone in his hand and the other half on his face. Joe smiles. Anna used to be a messy eater, too. She's thirty now, though, but her kids are just as bad.

His eyes slide over the booths dispassionately until they reach one proclaiming "Test of Endurance!" The counter sports two odd-looking metal prongs, but Joe is only interested in the prize, an exact replica of Anna's beloved Lester Boneyfish. The original was lost years ago, but Joe wonders if his grandchildren will enjoy this one as much as their mother did its predecessor.

He steps up, handing the boy behind the counter a bill. He is instructed to grip the prongs, and warned the current traveling through the circuit his own body is about to complete is quite painful. Joe nods, still smiling. Being indestructible has its advantages.

After five "agonizing" minutes, he is one Lester Boneyfish richer. Kelly and Jeffrey's eyes light up when they find it on their doorstep a month later.

-

notes:

doubledrabble.

pain is damage, however insignificant, to your nerve endings. Since Joe's nerve endings, like the rest of him, are indestructible, he feels no pain. Lucky! D:


	8. wish

warning: something more of an M rating.

-

"Oh, Karl, you shouldn't have." And Joe is impressed, really, that Kreutzfeld would allow something as risky as a hinged door- in his own office, no less. He smiles charmingly and wishes things were different. He wishes he could trust Kreutzfeld, wishes the other man weren't planning to betray Joe.

Karl is decently attractive and has an... interesting... personality. Joe is painfully aware of his farce of a relationship with Jennifer, and of how long it's been since Vanessa left. And of why Vanessa left.

He watches Kreutzfeld's lips form words and imagines them engaged in a very different activity.

notes:

Joe isn't gay, just bi, but apparently Vanessa couldn't handle that he was checking out the same guys she was. D:


End file.
